Revive a Clone Psp Battery That Is Not Charging

This instructable will show you how to jump start a clone psp battery. which could not be charged normally using the psp charger. The clone battery is not charging when the orange charging light in the psp does not turn on with the charger plugged to AC and / or when the clone battery does not turn on the psp.  Usually the lithium cells in these batteries had a residual charge in them, even when is empty to enable it to be recharged. As the clone psp battery might not have the same quality as a genuine battery, it will often be run down till the residual charge in the lithium cell becomes  too low for the charger to function.  This often happens when the clone battery had not been charged for quite some time.

But first, the disclaimer: I will not be responsible for any injury, harm or property destruction that result from following through with this instructions by the person or anyone nearby. Lithium cells can leak and explode, especially if it is connected to the wrong polarity, . At any time the battery become warm stop to recheck the steps.If its not working for you, buy a new psp battery. Its not worth it.

Step 1: Tool Requirements

The tools required are:

1) The non charging clone psp battery.

2) Small flat screwdriver.

3) Bench power supply, or a 9V battery with the clip and positive and negative wire connectors.

4) Voltmeter.

Step 2: Open the Psp Case and Examine the Contact to the Lithium Battery

Use the flat screwdriver to pry open the psp battery case at the seams. Examine the insides of the battery. The lithium cell connects to a small  PCB by a red (+ positive terminal)  and black (- Negative terminal) wire . In my case, there is only 1 red wire. The connection to the other pad is not indicated so it must be the negative  (black) connection to the lithium cell.  If your battery is held to the casing by double sided tape, work back the tape to expose the 2 solder joints connecting to the battery.

Step 3: Measure the Initial Residual Charge

Use the voltmeter to measure the initial charge of the lithium battery. Select the voltmeter to measure DC volts, Make electrical contact with the red cable tip to the solder joint where the red cable of the lithium cell is connected. Make electrical contact with the the black cable tip of the voltmeter to the solder joint where the black cable of the lithium cell is connected. Remember red to red and black to black. My cell is measuring an initial voltage of  +0.86 volts. Your measurement might defer depending on the state of discharge.

Step 4: Setup the Bench Power Supply

I setup my bench power supply to output 9 Volts and limit the current to 160ish mA. This happens to be the minimum current to turn on my bench power supply @ 9V. I had used the minimum current for safety reasons. If you do not have a bench power supply, skip this step You just need to get yourself a 9V battery and its 9V clip. A typical 9V clip comes with positive (red) wire and a negative (black) wire.

Step 5: Incrementally Charge the Lithium Cell by Applying 9V to Its Terminals / Pads

a) Charge the lithium battery for 10 seconds. Connect the (red) positive terminal of the power supply / 9V cell to the solder pad. Connect the (black) negative terminal of the power supply/ 9V cell to the black negative cable of the lithium cell.  Remember red to red and black to black. Do not short the connectors at any time or connect in reverse. My power supply connector cables pictures are showing yellow as negative (black) and orange as positive (red). But the result is the same.

b) Measure the DC voltage of the lithium cell. The cell should gradually increase after each measurement.

Repeat steps a) and b) until the voltage measurement reaches 1.5~1.7 volts. With my dead battery @ 0.86V it took me about 14 tries of the above steps before it reaches 1.7V.

At any time the lithium cell starts to feel warm; STOP. You might be overcharging the lithium cell, your connections is wrong or you have a bad lithium cell which cannot be recharged. When I was charging, the lithium cells are not even warm to the touch at all.

Step 6: Put Back the Lithium Cell Into Its Casing and Recharge Normallly Using the Power Supply

With the clone psp battery jump started, you should be able to recharge normally. Put back the lithium cell into its casing. If you like tape up the casing. It takes me about 6 hours to completely charge back the clone psp battery to full power, The clone psp battery will lose its charge over time due to the inferior quality of the lithium cell.  It needs to be charged often even when not in use to prevent it from losing its residual charge. Unless you want to do this procedure again to revive it,

Thanks for the attention, hope this will help revive the many dead clone batteries out there. Instead of throwing it away  and spend money buying a new battery, Its better for the environment. On the other hand, this instructable will not fix every dead psp  battery!  It only fixes battery that do not have enough residual voltage for the charger to work,.